I look at jailbreaking the same way processor manufacturers used to look at overclocking. Processor manufacturers tried to lock out overclocking because they thought it was a threat to their business - if you can overclock you won't spend bigger dollars on faster processors. Now a processors overclockability (is that a word?!) is actually a selling point. I build my own systems but never overclock, but for those willing to do so can.

Jailbreaking feels like much of the same - Apple looks at it as more of a threat than a selling point. I wouldn't be surprised if, after selling a gazillion iPhones, that Apple will continue to publicly denounce the practice but spend less time on the cat-and-mouse game with the dev team (it seems like the JB and unlock of the iPhone4 came much quicker than the same for FW3.1.3, maybe a sign of things to come).

I also think AT&T shot themselves in the foot by failing to deliver on promises. Tethering, for example, still isn't here in the US. I don't think Apple is as much invested in protecting the exclusivity of AT&T as they might have been during the beginning of their partnership.

[Edit]Just as I finished typing this I went back to Twitter toi find MN had retweeted the post about this article [/Edit]

Why? My T-mobile account specifically allows tethering - if I wanted to do it I would use MyWi. The program itself is perfectly legal, how people use it, not necessarily so, but that could be said about a lot of things.

Ok, so I should have added, for the US. We all know that the majority of users using it are in the US to get around their contracts. I thought it was pretty clear that this was implied, but I guess not...

If a program is used solely for getting around paying for a srvice (which in the US, it is), it would be considered illegal. Perhaps not in the UK, or anywhere else (and again I do NOT agree with the way things are here), but that still doesn't make it legally just.

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I once prayed to God for an iPhone, but quickly found out He didn't work that way...so I stole an iPhone and prayed for His forgiveness.

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. - Josh Billings

You are making a common mistake, mixing fair use with commercial interests, its in the commercial interest of ATT to charge you extra for bandwidth used for other devices, but, they are not giving you that bandwidth for free, they are charging you.
So its the same as jailbreaking the device: its yours (its your bandwidth paid month by month), you can jailbreak it (you can use bandwidth for whatever you want) I think you know the drill...

And on an unrelated view of things:

what would happen now that is not illegal to jailbreak, if one appears with a problem at a genius bar with a jailbroken device?

Will they refuse service?

No, I am really not confusing anything. If I was, ATT would be forced to NOT charge for said extra bandwidth. You are paying for said bandwidth to be consumed by YOUR IPHONE, not your laptop, pc, or whatever other devices you have. Read the contract...

Here is a copy and paste...
2) WIRELESS DATA SERVICE TERMS AND CONDITIONS (applies to all customers)

I. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLICABLE TO AT&T'S WIRELESS DATA SERVICES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FEATURES THAT MAY BE USED WITH WIRELESS DATA SERVICES AND WIRELESS CONTENT.

General Requirements: AT&T provides wireless data services, including but not limited to, features that may be used with wireless data services and wireless content and applications ("Services"). The absolute capacity of the wireless data network is limited. Accordingly, service is only provided for prescribed purposes and pricing for Data Services is device dependent and based on the transmit and receive capacity of each device. A pricing plan designated for one type of device may not be used with another device. Some devices or plans may require you to subscribe to data plan. If AT&T determines that you are not subscribed to the required plan(s), AT&T reserves the right to switch you to the required plan or plans and bill you the appropriate monthly fee. The Services may be subject to credit approval. An activation fee of up to $36 may apply to each new data line. Compatible data-enabled wireless device required.

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I once prayed to God for an iPhone, but quickly found out He didn't work that way...so I stole an iPhone and prayed for His forgiveness.

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. - Josh Billings

this is a great article. most of the features that 4.0 has and refined since the early days came from jailbreaking. so why is apple making such a big deal out of it when they are basically revamping something someone already did for the iphone when they should be saying thanks!

Originally Posted by ??????

Hi. Does anyone know is iBlacklist available in the app store? can it only be purchased outside the app store? If so, is it hard to install? Thanks everyone.

This is fortunate news. I winder though, as many people are fond if saying, "jailbreaking allows you to use the full ability of the device that you paid for". How much was the price tag for that device based on apples intended use of it? In other words we paid 600 for an apple iPhone with controlled access to apples content. Same reason a jb iPhone goes for more on eBay, it's worth more, so the price tag will go up. Luckily there is competition. Little good ever comes out of court rulings and new policies. I think (luckily for us) that apple just needs better attorneys or arguers. The best thing jobs ever said is "you don't like it, don't buy it". Apple shrugged.

Everyone needs to read this. Good explaining. There is another statement from Apple about this and it says "Jailbreaking degrades our users experience". That makes no sence at all. It's made to give us the best experience possible on a device.
Go ahead and ask Steve Jobs what he means by this on his iPhone. TextFree SMS is [email protected] I have gotten a response from him using this contact info. I don't know if it's really Steve or his staff.

Wow, great read Kyle. This community has grown so much in the 3 yrs or so that it's been around. For the old school members, remember when it used to be called "modmyiphone" then apple forced the change to "modmyifone" to now "modmyi"? I originally bought the 1st gen iPhone because it combined my smartphone & iPod and lightened my pockets. When jailbreaking became available, it made it the phone much better and made me inseparable with the iPhone. Thanks for making "the experience" even better.

Great read, Kyle. One might even say it was, Poetic. I'm glad that those idiots in Washington were able to get one thing right . We all know this won't change Apple's stance on the subject, but at least the cops won't seize my computers now when they catch wind of all the jailbreak contra ban it has on it. Glad to see a post from the master!

And it will be like a taco inside a taco within a Taco Bell that's inside a KFC that's within a mall that's inside your dream!